This invention relates to a method of handling sheets and to a sheet handling apparatus. The invention has application, for example, to a self-service financial terminal or automated teller machine (ATM) of the kind having the facility of providing a bank statement in response to a request made by a user of the terminal.
In operation of a known financial terminal of the kind specified, a user inserts a customer identifying card into the machine and then enters certain data (including a personal identification number and the type of transaction required) upon one or more keyboards included in a user console of the machine. If the requested transaction is the provision of a bank statement, the machine will cause a statement to be printed on a paper sheet and will cause the sheet to be fed to an exit port in the user console for collection by the user.
A problem experienced with the known financial terminal referred to above is that if a large amount of information is to be included in a requested statement then it may not be possible to set out all such information on a single sheet. In that case, it is necessary for the statement to be set out on two or more separate sheets which are fed in succession to the exit port and which are collected in succession by the user. From the user's point of view, it would be more convenient for two or more statement sheets to be presented at the exit port in the form of a stack, in a manner similar to that in which a cash dispensing mechanism of an ATM delivers a plurality of bank notes for collection by a user.
A known stacking and feeding mechanism for currency notes includes a rotating stacking wheel incorporating a series of curved tines. In operation, currency notes are fed one by one to the stacking wheel, each note entering between adjacent tines and being carried partly around the axis of the stacking wheel before being stripped from the wheel by stripper arms and stacked on transport means formed by endless belts. After the stack has been formed, the transport means feed the stack to an exit location. The stacking wheel of this known mechanism operates at high speed, and the mechanism is of somewhat complicated construction.